First the news: MC 2 has moved to 'freeware'; MS has published the source code and there are different builds with different add-ons and modifications emerging.

...I was playing this game almost effortlessly on a Windows 7 x64 system with a C2Q Q9550 and GF GTX 550ti, but I just cannot get it to start on my Alienware M11x. The game struggles to start, opens up a prompt console and silently crashes. I've tried different compatibility modes with various results - the game actually started once, with Win200 compatibility mode and crashed after 1-2 minutes (I was still in main menu). On Vista/Windows7 compatibility mode, the game may even start, but choppy as hell (so slow that it actually wont even register a click in main menu).

To make things worse, the game also freezes on my retro system (Barton, KT7-A, Win98). Does anyone have any ideas how can I get it to start on modern machine (or stop freezing on retro system)?